Since tendon injuries take so long to heal and cause such debilitating pain, the best strategy is prevention. While muscles repair themselves relatively quickly, tendons require much more time to heal. Generally joints must be immobilized to allow for the complete healing of a tendon, which is extremely inconvenient. Proper rest and varying your activities are good preventive measures. When you begin to feel pain in your joints, change or limit your activities immediately or face months if not years of painful healing. Shin splints are a common injury for both beginner and avid runners. However, those who play soccer, do aerobics or like to take a stroll in the park are just as likely to sustain this same type of injury. In this article I will address some of the common causes of shin pain as well as provide some prevention techniques. Shin splints may be used to describe a lot of other lower leg problems, but it generally refers to a condition called Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS).